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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350270">Flicker</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWillowBends/pseuds/TheWillowBends'>TheWillowBends</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda &amp; Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff and Angst, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Romance, Romantic Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:40:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,246</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350270</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWillowBends/pseuds/TheWillowBends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When the stories are told, they will not be remembered.  This memory is theirs.</p><p>(Written 2019, reposted from Tumblr.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Link/Malon (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flicker</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Reposted from Tumblr.  Set after <a href="https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/post/178438344649/about-linkeduniverse-part-5-of-0-1">this</a> comic.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Long after the flame had whittled away at the wick and turned the room dim had they lingered, pressed gently against each other in dying light.  Her husband was quiet by nature and purpose, but the silence here was comfortable and full of warm regard, his body loosed of the tension that normally bound his features rigid.</p><p>Link’s thumb smoothed over hers where their fingers were interlaced.</p><p>She smiled at the gesture, then rested her face in her palm and looked at him keenly. "You are very fond of him,” she stated plainly.</p><p>“I am,” he said simply, turning slightly to glance at her sideways.  "He is everything a Hero should be and more.  And he is ours.“</p><p>Malon laughed, a rich sound in the velvet dark.  "He’s somebody’s well down the line of what’s ours.”</p><p>“Not that far removed by my reckoning.”  He grinned at her.  "You should see him around the horses.  Any girl trying for his heart’s gonna have as hard a time as I did wooing you away from your first love.“</p><p>"Look at you playin’ like I made it hard for you.  You practically had me swoonin’ at ‘hello’ first time you rode back in here handsome as all get.”</p><p>“You talk like half the market wasn’t vying for your hand when I showed up.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes.  "If they were, they were doin’ a poor job of it.  Half the boys Papa hired after Ingo didn’t last a good week mucking the stalls.  Other half didn’t dare come within a mile of the ranch for fear of catchin’ work.  I’m fair certain he was ready to offer you my hand when you hadn’t up and gone off after the first month.“</p><p>"Wouldn’t be the first time,” he reminded her, eyes glinting.</p><p>“Should have taken the first offer,” she reasoned, “Would’a cost ya a lot less.”</p><p>“You were worth every last rupee spent.”</p><p>“Such a charmer,” she scoffed, then straightened, leaning into him.  She touched the collar of his shirt fondly, tugging at the laces.  "You should know it’s been a good three months you were gone.  Flattery is not necessary to get your wife into bed.“</p><p>The laugh broke out of him, wonderfully startled, before he leaned in and kissed her firmly.  "It is late,” he relented, then stood abruptly.  "And as we all know - “ He darted forward before she could react and scooped her out of the chair.  ” - a happy home starts with a happy wife.“</p><p>She expelled half a cry before choking it off, covering her face with her hands as she ruddied nose to ears.  Swinging her up bridal style, he kissed her again, starting toward the main stairwell.  "You’re going to have a be a lot quieter than that, darling.  We’ve got a lot of guests with sharp ears.”  He dodged the swat she sent at him, then made the ascent with deliberate speed, letting the anticipation stir the air between them.</p><p>He waited until they were well within the room before setting her down, letting his hands linger on her waist as she gazed up at him brightly, beguiling.  He wanted to kiss her and then some, but more than that he wanted to hold her in this moment, a thousand years preserved in the hard amber of his memory, protected from the weather of time.  Everyone thought it a river, flowing through and around them, but he knew better.  Time was a blade and a river both, cutting and cold.  He thought of her and thought of the boy, of heroes and myth and the thread of blood and history that ran between all of them, and he could see them now unfurling before him, like the sail of a great ship carried into the deep bend of the horizon.</p><p>When he smiled down again, her eyes had softened, and she reached out to touch his shoulders.  "What are you thinking of in there?“</p><p>Swallowing hard, he moved his hands to her arms, pulling her close.  He kissed her forehead tenderly.  "I was thinking…we could a name a girl after your mother.  Or a boy for your uncle, the one you said died in the war.”</p><p>“Maybe,” she agreed amiably.  She took the hand on her arm and gently pulled on it until it was level with her face, then kissed the callouses there fondly.  "Or,“ she murmured, "We could name her Saria.”  He started, stunned, and she took advantage of his surprise to ease his hand open, kissing each finger delicately.  "Or Navi.  A boy named Grog. Or a boy named - “</p><p>He jerked away, turning from her.  A shiver ran the length of him, the barest flinch, and she made her move, pressing her advantage and encircling him with her arms.  She could be relentless, too, she thought; she had learned well enough from him how to quarter something wounded.  Especially here, now, when he was finally beginning to understand.  That legacies were more than swords and blood, more than the glorious dead buried beneath the dirt of history.  It was alive around them, in them, always had been.</p><p>She pressed her face into his back, letting her lips brush his neck.  "A boy named Grog,” she continued softly, “Or Mikau.  Or even Mido,” she added mischievously.</p><p>He was shaking lightly when he turned back to her, eyes bright in the gentle light of the room.  Fitfully, he grabbed her hands, kissed them, then pushed her gently but steadily back to sit on the bed.  He knelt before her with no less fealty than knights before queens.  His mouth moved, as if to speak, but quivered shut before he simply pressed his face against her knee.  She stroked his hair, letting him have this moment.  She waited for the words that she knew were coming, that could only be coaxed out with patience and care, as if he were afraid that the world would swallow them whole and steal them away the moment he gave them breath.</p><p>Finally, he rose slightly, fisting her skirts.  "I love you,“ he said fiercely, "You are the greatest thing in my life.  Without you, I would…”</p><p>Die, maybe.  Let his sword carry him to an early grave.  Or drive himself hopelessly, endlessly against a wall of misery he could not breach.</p><p>She didn’t care.  It was his to have, the weakness in his guard she would not exploit.  Cupping his face, she smiled down at him sweetly.  "I love you, too, more than anything else in my life.  More than horses, even,“ she teased.</p><p>His laugh was rough and thick, but it was his.  "Even I wouldn’t dare ask you to rate me higher than horses.”</p><p>She tugged on his arms, urging him to rise level with her.  Leaning forward, she let her lips brush his nose, his cheek, before settling firmly on his. “I already told you flattery wasn’t necessary,” she whispered against his mouth, “You’re already getting lucky.”</p><p>She heard the rumbling of a laugh, and he pulled back.  For a long moment he held her countenance, his gaze intense, before moving with such alacrity it startled her backwards, and he pursued ferociously, all wet kisses and frantic love.</p><p>Afterwards, she laid in his arms, wrapped up and bound to him as closely as bone and flesh.  In the night, they carved out a space like a dark echo, the dream of a moment impressed in time, lifted away and outside its reach.</p>
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